1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to security systems and, more particularly, to a postal mailbox alarm system for multicompartment mailbox arrays contained beneath a primary access door.
2. Background of the Invention
The prior art is replete with alarm systems of varying designs and applications. Such alarms are utilized throughout the prior art for both safety and protection of personnel and personal belongings. However, the advent of advanced electronic technology has precipitated a virtual revolution in the alarm industry. Many residential and commercial establishments are now protected by alarm networks of varying degrees of sophistication. In the main, these alarm networks are based upon the principal of remote sensors that detect the event of intrusion and permit the generation of an alarm signal. Such systems have found widespread commercial acceptance and success, particularly when the alarm may be installed during construction of homes, buildings and other regions to be "secured."
Security systems have also found application in smaller dwellings and structures. For example, alarm systems have been adapted specifically for automobiles. These alarms provide both audible announcement of intrusion as well as, in certain instances, disabling action of the vehicle. The most widely accepted alarm system of date is that of an acoustic alarm the signal of which is triggered by motion of the vehicle or voltage drop caused by vehicle interior lights turning on. This particular adaptation of conventional alarm technology has likewise found widespread commercial success.
The security and alarm structuring of smaller and/or portable areas such as vehicles has demanded various considerations not heretofore necessary for larger, more complex establishments such as homes and offices. In particular, it is necessary to provide such a system in a self contained assembly whereby power is provided within the system in a configuration that is not easily accessed. Automotive alarms therefore often utilize the automobile battery for power and the circuit thereof is contained within the vehicle in a configuration that is optimally not readily accessible to a car thief.
Certain applications which are readily available for alarm systems and which may utilize the advantages thereof include smaller security areas such as coin operated telephones. One such system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,983,551. This 1976 patent teaches the use of a sensor mounted to the telephone housing adjacent a removable drawer type coin box. It is also well known that postal receptacles often contain valuable documents, money and other negotiable instruments which are attractive to thieves. This presents yet another type of security problem.
Conventional construction techniques for high density housing generally provide postal service deposit through multiunit mailboxes housed behind a primary access door, also known as a master loading door. The access door is accessible only by a postal worker due to a looking system installed thereon and regulated by the postal service. By accessing this primary door, the postal service has access to a multitude of postal compartments, or boxes, for the individual residences represented thereby. Each residence has its own means of access to this particular box, generally through a separate key which accesses only that box. In many instances this access entry is through a customer compartment door within the master loading door. However, when a thief desires access to the postal boxes as a group, he must simply break through the single, large master loading door to then have available to him all of the individual postal compartments, or boxes. This simplifies the thief's goal in obtaining access to mail and other valuables contained in these deposit receptacles. In most cases the thief does not violate the individual postal doors to each mailbox, but instead the very large access door to the mailbox array, it is not practical for the individual postal box owners, or residents, to provide security therefor. Since the overall access door is locked only by a postal service lock that is not in itself made available for triggering and deactivating an alarm system, it has been, to date, difficult to provide an effective alarm system for such multi-unit mailbox arrays. This is particularly true in view of the fact that existing postal procedures do not permit mail carriers to carry extra keys to turn off and on security alarms. This would be not only an added responsibility, but also an added potential liability.
It would be an advantage therefore to overcome the problems of the prior art by providing an alarm system that would conform to existing postal procedures and yet permit a low cost and yet efficient manner of protecting multiple mailbox compartments contained behind a single postal access door. It is well known that such postal access doors are secured by a lock generally of a single design controlled by the postal service. By accessing the operation of this lock, an alarm system can be installed which controls the unauthorized use of the access door and generates an alarm signal responsive to unauthorized entry.